Whether it is our forums here, or elsewhere, have forum threads - or maybe individual members/friends - ever influenced something you collected (or didn't collect)? Although it may not apply to everyone, I'm guessing the majority of people here at some point collected the 3 3/4" figures - vintage, modern, or both - and maybe that lead to exploring "other lines" as well. Maybe other lines lead you to 3 3/4", or maybe your situation is different entirely.

I know I first found the different sites and forums online because of an interest in the movies, and also when I was just starting to try to learn more about the POTF2 line. Prior to that, I wasn't overly aware of what type of collectibles were out there - Star Wars or otherwise - and forums eventually led to that. I can probably even say that although my interests are my own, there are times when discussion or hype for a certain collectible or line here has gotten me to take a closer look at the line in general (Kubricks, Sideshow 12", Gentle Giant, etc.). In fact, aside from starting to explore the aisles a little more when collecting Star Wars figures, the forums is where I really started learning about Marvel Legends/Classics -which is my next collecting interest after Star Wars.

Anyways, I was just curious if the forums or certain people have ever helped to influence you to look into various lines - or even start a new collection - or maybe even to stop collecting something in particular. I just think that if I wasn't online the way I am now, I probably would have barely known about many things - particularly things not found at retail. Sure, the world has changed a lot due to the explosure of internet - but I don't know if I would have the knowledge on this other stuff if it wasn't because of the access to Star Wars sites and forums.

I was very late in the game getting on to the collecting boards and meeting up with others, but I have definately been exposed to the local collecting group and that has changed my habits somewhat. I try to keep what they are looking for in mind when I make runs, and I have an army of sandtroopers thanks to a local tatooine magnet. I can't blame Jeff for my Kubrick habit, but I would like to. I can definately blame/thank him for the ability to army build them. And I probably wouldn't have gone down the 400% road if he hadn't been leading the way.

And I'm not sure who to blame for Kubricks, since I was in on series 1 at the start, so Dale if anyone.

But other lines to a degree can be blamed on others. I collected only 3 3/4 stuff prior to meeting up with a guy (drewlam) to trade a couple of figures. He had some playsets and more importantly, vehicles, out on display and that spurred my interest in them (plus I was getting close to caught up on regular figures). I think the same can be said for lots of stuff.

Predominantly it's the exposure to what particular products look like aside from publicity shots or simple advertisements. I doubt I'd have started on Gentle Giant mini-busts had I not seen pictures of people's collections. The same can be said of many other items as well. At times though I just sort of stumble into areas because of deals that are too good to pass up. Posters would be an example of this, I picked up three original one sheets (Star Wars and two Jedi) and an original re-release poster for Empire all for $100 CAD. On Ebay that's probably $300+ worth of goods and now I find myself hunting for an original release Empire poster (though the advance would be preferable) and maybe a second Star Wars poster. My plan is to have them linen backed and then frame them for display in the eventual basement home theater. Space them out with the Code 3 3-D mini-posters.

Another driving force has been the shift from poor graduate student to someone actually making a decent enough living and being able to afford something more than Hasbro product. The price point for Canadian figures hasn't really moved much since 1995, varying from around $7 then to about $11 now (though they have been as high as $14 for regular figures ) and it was a stretch to get a figure then. I couldn't even imagine buying a GG bust at the time, no way could I afford it.

The final driving force is what a particular company does with respect to its clientele. I've not been overly impressed with Hasbro of late and that's driven my interest down to a degree. Continuous rehashing of product has pushed my interest into other manufacturers products. I find Gentle Giant bust ups to be much more palatable and at a cheaper price point than Hasbro's product. Maybe 30 or so bust ups per year vs 80 or more figures from Hasbro. Space also plays a role. I still like the 3 3/4" line, but not as much as I once did.

I think the biggest influence the boards have on me is normalizing the amount of money I spend on trivial collectibles. Many times I think of what I could be directing this money towards and I seriously question what the hell I'm thinking. But I keep coming back here, seeing others doing the same thing and think hey, I'm not really nuts when in reality all I've done is sought out normalization in the asylum.

I think I am starting to get a handle on my collecting addiction though with a much decreased desire for Hasbro stuff and not insubstantial downsizing of product I already own from them. There are things I want and I will get them, but less so than it used to be.

I blame Brent for the 400% ones, though. He offered Luke and Han to me long before I stopped the Hasbro stuff and I declined, citing the popular "not enough dinero". Once I started liquidating, that changed and I asked him if they were still for sale. If he didn't ask in the first place, I might have held off a little longer. Bastard.

Sideshow and the FX sabers were all me, though. I have to take blame somewhere.

Boy, where to begin. I guess the first thing I need to do is blame BrentS for everything! If it wasn't for him bringing that Animated Clone Wars Yoda into work I would have never paid attention to collecting figures. Then he just had to bring in the Dagobah Yoda and Luke from the OTC line. I was hooked after that.

I had my small collection of Vintage figures and vehicles that I had socked away to show my kids once they were older. I was fine with that. Life was good. My wife was happy.

Then BrentS showed me a bunch of loose figures that he had and a checklist of all the carded/boxed stuff he had. When I took it upon myself to look these lines up on ebay, that was the end of it. Within about 6 months, I had almost the complete EP1 and Saga figures (sans errors/variants), most of the Clone Wars figures and vehicles, was starting in on the OTC line and was licking my chops at the release of ROTS. Midnight Madness is something I won't soon forget. A few grand and a couple fights with the wife and here I am today, the proud owner of about a dozen or so 1.5 cubic foot boxes filled with carded figures, vehicles, beasts, BattlePacks, Evolutions and everything else 3 3/4 inch in size. All waiting for my kids to grow up so I, I mean, they can play with them.

Oh, and did I mention that he was the one that got me hooked on Force FX lightsabers? He just had to go and buy one for his son's birthday. That was it... I'm now the proud owner of the Vader, Anakin, Luke and Maul double bladed sabers.

Lastly, he's also my pusher. I give him a list of what I want/need and he makes all the early morning toy runs and comes in with bags of figures on a regular basis. I know that I could refrain from telling him what I want, but he would buy them and bring them in anyway. What are friends for?

I just hope he doesn't start collecting Sideshow, Gentle Giant, Attackus or anything else I could get hooked on...

Thanks buddy, I'm glad I met you!

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The 60mm Sith Lord - All the hate and anger you've come to expect, now in a new conveniently sized package!

Yes, its all Dales fault, I'd seen kubricks before but never seen them locally, Dale posted some pics and laced them with some sort of visual poison that made anybody that saw them want them.One of the guys at mousedroid got me into the GG minibusts, I was unsure on the size vs price but after seeing his stormtrooper minibust next to a regular figure made the decision easy.I think those are the main 2 that got me into lines I didnt think twice about before.

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The problem with America is stupidity I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself

Well I was already collecting the lines I collect now before I found this place but I wasnt going to buy the Sideshow Leia until a few people on here said it looks alot better in person than it does in the photos so I've stook with my order because of that. So theres £135 spent because of the forum!